Atheism is a much maligned word. Yet persons whom succeeding generations
revered as prophets were considered atheists by their contemporaries. They
were persecuted too. Socrates, Jesus, Mohammad, Marx and Gandhi were notable
examples of this kind. Obviously atheism is a progressive tendency of civilization.
Conservative forces are averse to it. They calumniate and harass atheism.

Atheism is the opposite of theism. The popular meaning of theism is
faith in existence of a god. Though the concepts of god are many and varied,
the quality common to all of them is to regard god as superior to man.
Also there are faiths, like Hinduism, which do not postulate a god. Still
they hold belief in relentless fate, natural law or something which is
deemed superior to man. Therefore in relation to god, fate or law, man
stands inferior. The assumption of the inferiority of man seems more fundamental
for theism than belief in god. Thus theism is evidently the expression
of man's feeling of inferiority; and conversely atheism is the expression
of man's feeling of freedom.

The conflict between theism and atheism is the conflict between man's
slave mind and his freewill. A slave shirks to stand on his legs. He looks
for a prop. The earliest prop that theism took up was belief in a god.
But the concept of an almighty god which ordains man's life is clearly
inconsistent with the actual and everyday expression of freewill. Further
the needs of moral conduct refute the faith in an omniscient and omnipotent
god. If there were a god which is all-knowing and all-powerful
and which created man and the universe, why should pain, grief and vice
exist? That god which tempts or tests man with torment ought to be wicked
and it should be condemned and demolished rather than worshiped.

In fact there is no god at all. An open examination into the nature
of god reveals that the concept of god is either a complete falsehood or
at best a hypothesis which is enunciated to explain the meaning of phenomena.
As god is a postulate supposed by man, its usefulness consists in subserving
human happiness. But the assumption that god is superior to man smothers
man's initiative and fixes him in complacent servility. A slave creates
a god for a prop and remains a slave due to faith in it. The slave-mind
dominates his outlook on philosophy, economics, politics and ethics. He
feels inferior in every field. In metaphysical thought he imagines an all-pervading
spirit or matter of which the man is supposed to be an infinitesimally
tiny part; in the field of economics he acquiesces in a capitalistic order
wherein man's life is conditioned by property relations; in politics he
submits to a centralized administration of kings or of dictators: and ethically
he prays to god or curses his stars helplessly for injustice done to him,
instead of actively fighting with anti-social ways of life. In short,
theistic civilization is a civilization of slaves. It affords the security
and the dull satisfaction of servility.

But slave-mind which breeds the feeling of dependence does not
promote free growth of human personality. It achieves little, because it
holds back initiative and bold endeavor. The slavish submissiveness of
the many provides handle for the active few to exploit fellowmen. Indeed
it is the slave who makes a tyrant of his brother. Consequently, theistic
order of life seeths with inequalities and injustices, greed and violence,
ignorance and cowardice. The greater the faith the wider these evils spread.

In order to save the mass of people from the degradation into which
the theism has thrown them, stalwarts with stout heart like Buddha, Jesus,
Mohammad, Marx and Gandhi, preached bold action and strong initiative among
the common people. Their efforts bore fruit. Popular rebellions rose against
exploitation and enslavement and carried civilization a step towards common
weal. It may be that they too talked of god and did not dispense with theistic
attitudes altogether. But the new god was so much rational and revolutionary
and so much less deterministic than the old and conventional god that these
stalwarts were certainly more atheistic than their contemporaries. By adopting
that amount of atheism, they attained a corresponding amount of progress.
They awakened mankind out of former stupor. In the wake of the teachings
of those prophets, rationality, socialism and democracy entered into the
philosophy, economics and politics of common people and they were benefitted
by the change. It is no wonder that priests and princes whose interest
were vested in superstitious beliefs, capitalistic exploitation and in
autocratic rule resented the awakening and upsurge among people. They decried
atheism with vile abuse and tried to put it down with all the forces at
their command. The prophets and their followers were ruthlessly persecuted.
Yet atheism emerged out successfully because it is in keeping with the
progress, prosperity and happiness of mankind. The march of civilization
accords with the rise of atheism stage after stage.

While the amount of atheism contained in the teachings of the prophets
enhanced human happiness, the remnants of theistic thought lingering in
them corrupted the ranks of people again. Socialist movements have deteriorated
into managerial controls; democracy is dominated by party cliques; and
free thought has got entangled in dissertations on ultimate reality. The
common man has again fallen a slave to the trade union leader, to a political
party or to a doctrinaire approach, as in the case of Marxism. The pomp
and pride of elected ministers of modern democracies are no less haughty
than the disdain of hereditary princes. The common man is the victim to
these reverses. He has no one to blame for this sad plight by his theistic
sentiments and conventional practices.

What redeems mankind once for all is an open avowal of complete atheism.
The slander thrown at atheism during the past ages has been sufficiently
washed out by the blood and tears of prophets and their followers. It should
not be difficult now to declare atheism lock, stock and barrel. Open atheism
prevents people from slipping into old faiths and ways of life. A permanently
awakened mankind is the indispensable condition for the success of socialism
and democracy. Only citizens who are activated by the acceptance of atheism
can feel the masters of their ministers, can control their government and
bend it to serve their needs.

Atheistic civilization is the civilization of free, equal and moral
people. Atheists feel free because atheism is based upon the recognition
of the freewill of man. Atheists understand that what are called natural
laws and ultimate reality are only interpretations of their experiences.
They have no validity except as broad guesses. They shall have to change
with ever-growing experiences. Theories can only explain facts. They
are neither infallible nor can they contradict facts. As any theory which
subordinates man's life to an external control is incompatible with the
every-day experience of individual freedom, all theistic theories
are wholly false. This understanding should disillusion people with regard
to their theistic beliefs.

All free people should necessarily live equal too. As men are similar
in strength, talent and need, equality in opportunity and respect is more
proper to our social relations than exaggeration of differences. In fact
there is not that natural difference between man and man as there is between
a lion and a lamb. And the little variations in taste and form can be accommodated
and improved through human sympathy, education and effort. The present
distinctions of castes creed, class, culture, race and nationality among
people are maintained partly through a belief that they are divinely ordained
and partly through the protection of the barriers with violent force. When
people lose faith in divinity, the mischievous ideological sanction behind
the distinctions falls into pieces ignominiously. Also an awakened mankind
no longer lends support to the violence that perpetuates the injustices
of inequalities. As the distinctions are removed, the ideal of one humanity
and world citizenship comes nearer to realizations. Further the crossing
of national frontiers removes the main cause of wars and rids humanity
of the evils associated with wars.

The greatest contribution of atheism is the provision of a firm basis
for ethical conduct. Atheism explains that morality is a social obligation
but not a passport to heaven and salvation. The theistic belief in divine
retribution sidetracked moral behavior. Believers were more prone to please
the god of their imagination by prayer and ritual than to conform to rules
of moral conduct. Consequently immorality and anti-social activities
spread wild wherever people were absorbed in the worship of god and in
the propitiation of fate. Atheism brings about radical changes in the outlook
of people in this context. Truth, tolerance, love and equality are the
basic needs of social harmony. Membership of society imposes on everyone
the obligation of their observance now and here. Transgressions should
be checked and punished by public opinion and mutual control, since immorality
on the part of anyone disturbs the happiness of everyone involved in the
social relation. The indirect method of encouraging morality through hope
and fear of requital in the other world lent itself to much abuse, especially
when the concept of the other-world was exposed to be a big hoax.
So atheism which bases morality on social obligation and self-discipline
and which controls violations with persuasion and pressure of satyagraha,
ensures ethical behavior more definitely and reliably than religious faith
could.

The insistence on morality by the atheistic outlook alters the present
course of scientific development. Indeed the modern achievements in the
field of technology have been magnificent. But the theistic outlook of
the scientists has warped their moral sense, with the result that they
produced a bomb of the atomic energy which they laboured hard to release.
Scientists have been as callous to the suffering of fellow men as priests
and princes were. They prove to be more cruel too since they wield the
mighty powers of steam, oil and atom. Hence the need of atheism for the
scientists. No one can absolve himself from the effects of his achievements.
Atheism sets an ethical direction to the course of scientific investigations.
No act but the moral deserves praise.

As an aid to self-discipline, ethical conduct could be regulated
by an external agency like a government. When the mass of people were theistically
minded and when they were indifferent to the affairs of the government
on account of their other-worldly outlook, the institution of a government
did enslave and exploit people instead of helping them in the regulation
of social behavior. The attitude will be different when atheism holds the
field. The citizens grow realistic, become active, and control the government
rather than being controlled by it. Inasmuch as a government derives authority
from the co-operation which people give and gathers revenues from
the taxes which people pay, the government ought to be useful to the people
as a servant. So when atheists turn the government to this advantage, it
no longer rules but assists people in the maintenance of morality, harmony
and equality in social relations. Nevertheless the institution of a government
is always attended with dangers of coercion which are inherent to external
control, and so it should not only be kept under strict control of the
people but its functions should be replaced by self-discipline as
soon as possible. Obviously, atheistic outlook with its sense of realism,
humanistic approach and active effort is essential for the establishment
of good democracy wherein the people govern themselves.

Atheist Way of Life

Atheist way of life is full of initiative. Its objective is equality;
its method is openness; its means is political action; its driving force
is the moral freedom of the individual.

A right does not bear fruit unless it is accompanied by the consciousness
of the claim. The consciousness is not possible as long as one believes
that his life is ordained by powers beyond him. Therefore atheistic outlook
is indispensable for awakening the consciousness and the will for the real
working of democracy. Without avowed atheism, democracy turns into a formality
of the exercise of voting franchise without deriving benefits that are
intended by it.

The essence of atheism is the freedom of the individual. Freedom releases
the immense potentialities of human imagination, initiative and effort
that lay oppressed under theistic faith. Free individuals feel masters
of situations. The mood of supplication and complaint, inherent in prayer
to god and petitions to government, has no place in the atheistic way of
life. Atheists always assert; they never surrender. They take no failure;
everything is an experience that improves the method for further attempts.

Originally published by the Atheist Centre, Vijayawada,
India. Digitized and proofread by John R. Edwards. Permission to reprint
in digital form obtained by Mr. Edwards from Lavanam, Atheist Centre, Vijayawada,
India. This article may be reproduced in any form provided the article
is not altered, and proper credit is given for publication, digitizing
and authorship.